by Paul Groves

Sophie Coldwell (GBR) and Lukas Pertl (AUT) stormed to victory at the ETU European Junior Cup in Geneva yesterday.

It was Coldwell’s second Junior Cup win of her career but her first since 2011. For Pertl, the wait is finally over as he finally landed the first ETU Cup win of his career, capping an impressive season for the young Austrian. In  four European Cup races this year he has never finished out of the top four.

In the Junior Women’s race, Britain’s Coldwell set the tone for victory by posting the fastest swim of the day, putting her in a strong position for the race. With no sign of the Kitzbühel race in her legs she was able to stamp her mark on this first Junior European Cup to be held in Geneva.

She held off the challenge of race favourite Angelica Olmo (ITA) by a comfortable margin of 16 seconds. The Italian athlete took silver ahead of New Zealand’s Elise Salt who, although very powerful on the bike, just couldn’t hold the pace on the run and had to settle for bronze.

This is her first race on the European Circuit and she will no doubt be happy with the podium place ahead of many other strong athletes.

In the Junior Men’s race, Pertl took the top place on the podium. He exited the water some way off the lead but fast transitions and a tactical ride on the bike, followed by blistering pace on the run, saw him edge ahead of Ben Dijkstra (GBR) who, despite a faster bike split, just missed out on the speed for the run. The bronze medal went to Hungary’s Bence Bicsák.

A massive 63 athletes finished this race and the spectators today got a real taste of the main event, which kicks off tomorrow at 12:30 with the Elite Women, followed at 15:30 by the Elite Men.

Photo by Alias-Schreiber.com